Meet the Sista Brunch Team
Fanshen Cox, Creator, Producer & Host
Award-winning playwright, actor, producer & educator Fanshen Cox is the founder of TruJuLo - a production company that uplifts stories that speak truth in pursuit of justice in service of love. Fanshen was SVP of Impact and Development at Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s Pearl Street Films for six years, where she co-authored the Inclusion Rider - used by Damon, Affleck, Michael B. Jordan, AMC Studios, Fifth Season and more to help ensure that cast and crew hiring in entertainment is representative of what the world looks like. She served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cape Verde, West Africa, and holds a BA in Spanish & Education, an MA in TESOL, and an MFA in TV, Film & Theatre. She has been honored with Distinguished Alumni Awards from CSULA and from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Shawn Pipkin-West, Co-host Season 6
Shawn Pipkin-West has been a DGA Member since 2004, but has been in the Entertainment industry for more than 20 years. Some of her feature credits include Mufasa: The Lion King, Dream Girls, Longest Yard, Family Stone and Beyond the Lights. Pipkin-West’s TV Credits include ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, The Catch, For the People, FOX’s Shot’s Fired, NBC’s Community, Friday Night Lights, Raising Dion for NETFLIX, Sorry For Your Loss for FACEBOOK Watch and Big Shot for DISNEY +. A DGPTP Graduate, Pipkin-West is on the Board of Trustees for the Directors Guild-Producer Training Program, The DGA National Board (Associate), Co-chair of the DGA’s Women’s Steering Committee, 1st AD Committee and has been on the AD/UPM Council West as a member and/or alternate from 2013-PRESENT. She is also a two-time DGA Award Winner for Movies for Television - Temple Grandin - 2011 and Variety/Talk/News/Sports - Specials - A West Wing Special Benefit When We All Vote - 2021.
Tasha Rogers, Producer Season 6
Tasha Rogers is a native Angeleno. She is the youngest of six and a mother of one son. Tasha has been a professional hair stylist and entrepreneur for over twenty-five years. She started her hair business named Know Split Endz in 2009 and has worked in the Los Angeles Leimert Park/ Crenshaw district for most of her career. She also grew up in this area and loves to give back to her community by volunteering and donating to organizations that are based in the area. Tasha graduated from West LA with a Humanities Liberal Arts associate degree. Her love for all things film related has guided Tasha to becoming a film student. She currently is attending Cal State LA where she is pursuing a journalism film degree. She wrote and directed the short film; Planting Seeds We All Eat. Her goals are to create, produce, and direct content that is not rooted in pain and dysfunction about black and brown people while also providing opportunities for the marginalized and underrepresented people in the film and entertainment industry.
Kamesha Rodriguez, Producer Season 6
Kamesha Rodriguez has been part of the entertainment industry since the age of 8, showcasing her talents in modeling, dance, singing and acting. She furthered her education at The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, where she specialized in product development. Through her diverse skill set, Kamesha has transformed her passions into a successful career in creative consulting and production. She is cherished by some of the most influential directors, producers, actors, and executives in TV and film. Kamesha's mission is to create projects that inspire, uplift, motivate, and encourage audiences.
Anya Adams, Creator/Co-Host Seasons 1-3
Anya Adams is an award-winning director, and has taken home TWO NAACP Image Awards for Best Director in Comedy. Anya’s career skyrocketed after directing an episode of Blackish in 2017. Since then she has gone on to direct the Netflix pilot Ginny and Georgia, episodes of The Expanse, The Good Place, Single Parents, G.L.O.W., Charmed, Fresh off the Boat, Speechless and many more.
IG: Directed By Anya
Twitter: GoGoAnya
Christabel Nsiah-Buadi, Developer &
Executive Producer
Christabel develops and produces digital content and podcasts for broadcasters and independent storytellers through My Lens Media. Projects include “Changemakers” for Marketplace, “Media Disruptors” for Public Radio International, and “Home from Home” for KCET. She also reports for KPCC, Marketplace and National Public Radio. She also writes regularly about politics and culture. You can read her work in The Independent, GOOD, and Shondaland.com.
Prior to this, she led award-winning political and cultural coverage for NPR shows and reported on major international events. She has covered Ghana’s 50th anniversary, Guantanamo Bay detention, and has reported on most U.S elections since 2004. She produced live coverage of Hurricane Katrina and reported from the Gulf Coast one year after the flood for “The Laura Flanders Show” on Air America Radio. She was also the voice of The Africa Channel’s coverage of Nelson Mandela’s death in 2013.
Sonata Lee Narcisse, Producer Seasons 3&4
Sonata Lee Narcisse is an audio producer and communications strategist who has worked in newsrooms across Los Angeles. She got her start in journalism as an associate producer/director of the NPR news magazine show, News & Notes. Additionally, she has worked as a producer at American Public Media’s Marketplace, Marketplace Morning Report and Marketplace Money in addition to The Tavis Smiley Show from Public Radio International. Sonata’s freelance reporting has appeared on KPCC, KCRW and Marketplace. Additionally, Sonata helped launch The Blueprint Show, a podcast about visionaries who took a leap of faith to pursue their dreams.
Brittany Turner, Producer Seasons 1-3
Brittany Turner is a writer and creative consultant. Formerly, she was a Development Executive at Portal A, an award-winning studio that develops, produces, and distributes original and branded content. While VP of Digital at Adaptive Studios, she produced the director contest for HBO’s Project Greenlight (2015) in partnership with Facebook and oversaw its digital initiative, Project Greenlight Digital Studios. Prior to that, Brittany worked in social and digital strategy at Disney’s Maker Studios and The Ellen DeGeneres Show. She has spoken at SXSW, Arclight’s Women in Entertainment series, and Digital Hollywood.
With Special Thanks To…
Professor Redelia Shaw, Department of Communication & Media Studies at Santa Monica College
Isaiah Montgomery, Logo Design
Farida Abdul-Wahab, Maddie Black, Cydney Brown, Mimi Slater, Associate Producers, Season 4
Brenda Mwingira, Live Event Correspondent